A Way Back Home
by IntriguePrincess0621
Summary: "I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there." He was just gone one day, no note...nothing. No one in this town was willing to give her any answers, she she and her friends will set off on an adventure to find him and bring him home. ::Sequel to "Building a Home"::
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Good Morning, my loves and welcome to the sequel to "Building a Home". It has been a nice little vacation for me, but it's time to get back to work. This story is set a bit in the future so things probably won't match up with the comic books...like at all. LOL. Anyway hope you enjoy these little teaser. Love K

"Hey mom, sorry I'm late. I had to help Emma with some extra chores since Judith is still sick in bed." Lidia sighed and sat down in front of her mother. "I still haven't found out anything new on Dad. I don't know where else to look or who else to ask. Everyone around here seems hell bent to just... leave things they way they are. But I know he loved you and I'm pretty sure he loved me. I just don't understand why he couldn't take us with him. Maybe if he had..." Lida sighed and placed another wildflower on Beth's grave. "Maybe things would've been different."

"Lidia, come on... Mom says dinners ready." Emma called from down the hill.

Lidia sighed and shook her head. "Aunt Vivian is trying her best, but she can't cook like you or Carol. I hope this flu doesn't last too much longer, I don't think Uncle Eugene can take much more of her cooking either. Anyway, I better get going mom. I'll stop by again soon, promise." Lidia got to her feet and started down the hill, but stopped and turned around. "Love you mom."


	2. Chapter 2

"I swear, I followed Carol's recipe exactly and only turned around for a second..." Vivian said on the verge of tears as everyone stared at her horrendously burnt casserole.

Eugene cleared his throat and looked at Emma and Lidia. "Girls." His whispered.

Emma tore her eyes away from her plate. "It doesn't look that bad mom."

Lidia smiled. "It look delicious Aunt Viv."

"I read once that burnt food is exactly a better source of nutrients than other food." Eugene explained before popping a fork full of food in his mouth and slowly chewed. "Delicious."

The girls gulped slightly but followed suit. After forcing a bite down Lidia took a big gulp of her water and coughed softly. "So, I was talking to Michonne about my dad..."

"Oh Lidia dear, I wish you would just leave the past in the past." Vivian sighed.

Lidia frowned. "He's been gone since I was three, that's been thirteen years now. I just want to know more about him."

"Sometimes, it's best to leave the past in the past Lidia." Eugene explained. "It might not seem fair now, but it's better this way."

Lidia frowned, sighed and pushed her plate away. "Excuse me, I've lost my appetite." She got to her feet and marched up to her and Emma's room without waiting on anyone's approval.

Emma wasn't far behind of course, she never had been. The two were born just under two months apart and had been almost inseparable even since. She was her best friend and no one knew Lidia better. "Oh my god, that woman is going to kill us with her cooking. How she ever survived before Carol and your mom I'll never know..." She stopped and looked at Lidia. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up your mom."

Lidia smiled and sat on the edge of her bed. "It's OK, sorry for storming off like that."

Emma waved her off. "It's no big thing, she'll get over it. Wanna go talk to Michonne?" She held up a notebook with a smile. "We could ask her more about your dad?"

Lidia smiled. "She should be done with dinner about now, let's get outta here."

The two snuck down the stairs and out the back door as quietly as possible and ran straight over to Rick and Michonne's house. The sun was just starting to set and crickets had just started singing as they reached the front door. Rick, Michonne's husband and leader of the Alexandria group opened the door just as they were about to knock. "Evening girls, everything OK?"

"Oh yes, we were hoping to speak with Michonne for a moment."

Rick smiled and held the door open for them. "Hun, the girls are here to see you."

Michonne walked around the corner of the dinning room with a smile on her face. "Hey girls, wanna help me with the dishes real quick and we'll go for our walk."

"Sure." The girls said in unison and walked past Rick. "Bye Rick." They said again in unison.

Rick smiled and shook his head. "I wish Judith or Carl were that excited to do dishes. I'll be back later, I'm going to go check on Carol and Glenn, see if they're getting any better."

Michonne smiled and waved good bye as Rick closed the door behind him. She turned and grinned at the two teenage girls standing in her kitchen. "He's gonna start getting suspicious girls."

"I know...but I have just a few more questions." Lidia said with a pleading smile.

Michonne chuckled and smiled. "You look so much like your mother when you do that." She sighed. "OK, let's get going."

Emma frowned and pointed her thumb at the kitchen. "What about the dishes? I thought you wanted us to help?"

Michonne let out a light chuckle. "I finished those ten minutes ago. I've learned never trust these men to do 'em."

The trio chuckled and headed outside for their evening walk and interrogation.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thirteen Years Ago..._

 _Michonne walked out onto her front porch to investigate the sound of arguing from outside. There she saw Beth screaming at Daryl who was packing up his motorcycle. "Daryl, I don't understand. Just talk to me!"_

 _"There's nothing to talk about Beth, I'm going..." He barked at her and started his bike up._

 _"Daryl! Wait.." Michonne yelled sprinting up towards him but it was too late. Daryl rode off towards the gate of Alexandria._

 _Three year old Lidia ran after him crying. "Poppa wait, don't go!"_

"...and that was the last time anyone heard from him. I'm sorry it's not a real answer my dear." Michonne explained.

Lidia sighed and looked towards the gate. "Where could he have gone?"

"I don't know dear, all I know is... he never told your mother when he wasn't coming back."

"Which means..." Emma started slowly.

Lidia gasped. "What if he's been taken hostage or something?!"

Michonne shrugged. "But thirteen years...and your dad was one tough son of a bitch...I just don't know Lidia dear."

"I understand, maybe Uncle Eugene and Aunt Viv are right. Perhaps, it's best to leave things in the past. He clearly didn't love me enough to stay..."

"Now you listen right now young lady," Michonne said firmly. "You're father loved you with all of his heart if not more than your mother..."

"Then why would he leave me and mom here!" Lidia snapped. "I'm sorry but that doesn't exactly scream "nurturing father"." Tears began to well up in Lidia's big blue eyes and she turned and stormed off back to Vivian's house. "Just forget I even asked about him!" She screamed.

"Lidia!" Michonne called after her but she wasn't listening. She made it home well before Emma this time, slammed the front door and didn't care who heard.

"Emma?!" Vivian snapped from the kitchen. "Where have you been...Lidia?" She said as she caught just a glimpse of Lidia marching up the stairs. "Lidia?!"

Lidia slammed the bedroom door behind her and threw herself on her bed in a sobbing fit. Why was she left here? Who did this man think he was just leaving her and her mother?

"Hey..." Emma whispered as she quietly entered their room. "Mom's flipping out down there. I told her not to worry..."

"Thanks." Lidia sniffled sitting up and looking at Emma, she had no more tears left to cry. She let out a shaky breath.

Emma smiled gently. "I know it doesn't amount to much in the bigger scheme of things, but...you have me, and mom and dad..."

"And that does mean the world to me... I am just going to learn that he's gone and he's never coming back and the sooner I do the better."

Emma stared at her for a good long while before nodding and clapping her hands together. "Well that's that then...Where's your back pack?"

"My what?"

"You're back pack... unless you plan on carrying our rations by hand, we're gonna need our back packs to carry everything." Emma said opening their closet door and rummaging through old boxes from when Lidia moved in.

"Em, what are you on about?" Lidia sighed. "Rations for what?"

Emma emerged with two back packs in hand and quickly tossed them on the bed. "Well I don't know about you but I'm not going to go hungry on this little adventure."

"Out there? We're going out there?!" Lidia snapped softly as to not let anyone else down stairs hear. "Are you out of your mind?"

Emma stuffed her bag with a couple of sweaters and warm socks even though it was the middle of July. "Well, we're not gonna find your dad here now are we? If they won't give us a straight answer than we'll go find them ourselves."

Lidia stared at Emma. "You've lost your mind. We can't go out there!"

"Why not?" Emma shot roughly. "Walkers haven't been seen around here in six years. There's nothing to worry about."

"What are we worrying about?" A voice from their bedroom window said and caused the two girls to jump and scream a little bit. A young boy, only a year and half younger then them crawled through their window.

"Damn it, Noah! What have we told you about sneaking into our room like that?!"

Noah, Lidia's cousin grinned proudly. "I heard Lidia flipping out and just had to come over and find out how much trouble you were in."

"Oo!" Lidia said with a quick frustrated breath. "I oughta tell Aunt Maggie on you!"

Noah rolled his eyes. "She's been too busy taking care of dad, she barely notices me come and go anymore. Now where are we going?" He said dusting himself off.

"Home!" Emma snapped and tried to shove him back towards the window. "Get out of here before I beat you to a pulp."

"Whoa whoa whoa..." Noah said holding up a finger. "It would be a shame if I told Aunt Vivian what you two were planning."

Emma glared. "You...wouldn't...dare..."

"Oh I would." Noah said proudly. "Unless, let's just say...you take me along with you."

"Absolutely not!" Lidia snapped. "Aunt Maggie would kill me!"

"Not if we find Uncle Daryl and bring him home." Lidia and Emma froze and then looked at each other.

Lidia spun Noah around to face her. "What do you know about my dad..."

Noah shrugged. "Not much..." He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small notebook. "Except...you know... where he went."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to read this. Just a friendly reminder if you are confused as to who the OC's are, please go and read "Building A Home" first. Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this story and if you do don't forget to click that follow and favorite button for the latest updates. Love ya all ~K

"I found it in my parents rooms..." Noah started, he held up the notebook like some sort of prized relic from days long since passed.

Emma scoffed. "You're such a snoop."

"Hush, go on Noah." Lidia said softly.

"Anyway..." He glared at Emma. "I was reading it one night, just a bunch of boring stuff about Mom's crop charts and stuff. But then I found this page in the back." He flipped it to one of the last few pages and showed it to the girls. In Maggie's elegant handwriting was a few simple words... Daryl went back.

"What? That's it?!" Emma snapped. "That's not even close to helpful!"

Lidia spun around with her hand on her head incomplete disbelief. "Oh my god... I know where he is!"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You...do?"

Noah grinned. "He went back to Grandpa Hershel's farm in Atlanta. Where he first met Aunt Beth."

"Holy shit." Emma gasped. "Lidia...we know where he is, we can go find him..."

Lidia spun around to face everyone. "But Atlanta has to be atleast ten hours away by car, god knows how long it would take us to get there on foot."

"Who says we're walking?" Noah beamed and stepped a side and nodded out the window. The girls rushed over and looked out the window and saw Rick's car he used for runs.

"Are you out... of your mind?!" Emma shot. "You want us to take Rick's car?! Don't you think he'll notice it's gone?!"

"I'm dying to hear this plan..." Lidia said crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's not my plan... it's hers." He pointed out the window again. Judith Grimes opened the driver side door, flipped her long brown hair out of her face and waved.

"You little..." Emma snapped but then lowered her voice to a whisper. "You said you were sick!"

Judith smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't feel like doing my chores, so sue me."

"Rick is gonna do more than that if he finds out we took his car, drove all the way back to Atlanta just to find my dad." Lidia said in a panic. "This is crazy...we can't do this..."

"Lidia!" Emma said grabbing her by the shoulders. "Do you want to find him?"

"I guess..."

Emma glared and tightened her grip. "That's not an answer... DO YOU WANT TO FIND HIM?! Because I need to know right now... that this is something worth possibly the worst grounding I will ever get in my entire life."

Lidia nodded slowly. "Yes. Yes I do." She said in a determined tone. "I deserve answers."

"Yes ma'am you do." Emma smiled and hugged Lidia. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but what's the plan?"

Noah beamed and crawled out the window. "Meet us behind the church in an hour and we'll go over the plan then."

Emma and Lidia watched as he traversed down the tree and disappeared in between houses and into the night. "We're gonna be in so much trouble."

"Aw come on Lidia, imagine the adventure this gonna be!" Emma clapped her hands excitedly. "Show some enthusiasm!"

"We are so dead." Lidia said with a fake excited tone. "What if he doesn't want to be found or worse..."

Emma took her best friend's hand and patted it gently. "You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one."

Lidia laughed. "You are so cheesy." She took a deep breath and smiled. "Ok, let's do it. Let's go find my dad."


	5. Chapter 5

Lidia could barely sleep, the plan was set and there was only a few things left to pack. They would leave in the early morning while everyone was sleeping and be off to bring Daryl back home. She tossed and turned almost the whole night wondering what he was going to do, what was he gonna say and would her even be alive? The thoughts drove Lidia nearly mad and she sat up in bed out of pure frustration.

Emma was snoring soundly in her bed, Lidia silently wished she could sleep like her. She rubbed her face and decided a nice glass of water would be best to ease her mind. So she got up and headed downstairs to the kitchen. She clicked on the small light above the sink and grabbed the pitcher of water from the fridge. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Eugene down the hall and sitting out on the back porch. she set the glass and pitch down and walked down the hall.

"Uncle Eugene?"

He jumped at the sound of her voice and tried to hide a cigarette. "Lidia...I didn't know you were awake...I..."

"Are you smoking?!" Lidia gasped.

Eugene looked up at her with the most pathetic look imaginable. "Please don't tell Aunt Viv."

Lidia sat down beside him and grabbed a cigarette from his pack and lit up. "I think your secret is safe with me."

Eugene stared at her, his mouth open in shock. "How long has that been going on?!"

Lidia smiled and cocked an eyebrow. "Since the time you started. Emma and I stole a pack from the carton you got from the last run."

"I knew I was missing one." Eugene said more to himself. "What are you doing up? Nightmares again?"

Lidia sighed. "I haven't had nightmares since I was nine." She took a drag of her cigarette and exhaled slowly. "I just couldn't sleep."

"Does it have anything to do with Noah being on our roof earlier this evening?" Lidia's eyes widened. "He wasn't very subtle."

"Did Aunt Viv see?" Lidia asked slowly.

Eugene smiled and shook his head. "No. She was preoccupied with reading studying Carol's recipes." He looked at Lidia and sighed. "I can't tell you to stay, I have no right to tell you what you can and can't do. But I request you keep Emma safe and bring her back as soon as possible from your travels. I'll keep her mother at bay as long as I can."

"Uncle Eugene..." Lidia started.

"We've been withholding information from you long enough... it is time for you to go find the answers for your self." He said thoughtfully. "But seriously, if you find more on the way... snag them. I don't think I can support two teenage smokers and myself."

Lidia laughed. "Well just you and me, Emma threw up. So I'm pretty sure she'll never touch one again as long as she lives."

Eugene smiled. "Go get Emma up, it's going to be dawn soon.. Oh and Lidia..." He said. "Please be careful."

Lidia got to her feet and hid her finished cigarette butt under a plotted plant. "I will. We'll be back soon."

...

Emma was a nightmare to wake up, but finally Lidia managed to get her up and out of bed. "Emma, come on. Judith and Noah are outside waiting." Emma grumbled something under her breath and grabbed her backpack and struggled to put on a fuzzy slipper. "Emma! Real shoes please!" Lidia whispered. Emma groaned and tossed the slipper aside and finally got on her tennis shoes.

Lidia lead Emma out the back door and out to Judith and Noah. "We're cutting it close." Judith said softly.

"I'm sorry, she's not a morning person." Lidia sighed and helped Emma in the back seat of the car. Emma was asleep again before she even sat all the way down. "Well that's close enough, let's get going." She turned and looked at the house and waved at Eugene who was hiding just out of sight in one of the windows. He waved and disappeared before Aunt Vivian could be the wiser.

As they made their approach to the main gate, they were met by Carl, Judith's older brother. Lidia cringed a little bit. "Man, I told you we'd be busted..."

Judith rolled down the driver side window and chuckled. "Told you I'd have a plan to get us out without a hitch."

Carl approached the car and smiled. "Morning guys. I haven't seen anything out there all morning, now Judith do you have everything?"

"Yes." She drawled. "I told you that the last five hundred times you asked."

Carl glared. "Do you have your map? Your rifle?"

"Oh my gawd Carl, yes I have everything." Judith snapped softly. "Now go and open the gate."

Carl smiled at Lidia. "Go get him, Lidia."

Lidia smiled and nodded. "We'll be back soon."

"You better, Dad and Michonne are gonna kill us..." Carl said but patted the top of the car and hurried over to the gate and opened it. Before them was the deserted road that would take them to Atlanta. Everyone, aside from Emma who was still asleep, hesitated for a moment.

"No turning back." Judith said quietly. "Are we ready?"

Noah and Judith turned around and looked at Lidia. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes. Let's go."

Judith smiled. "Alright, let's blow this one horse town." She put on a pair of sunglasses and put the car in drive.

Lidia stared out the window towards the hill where her mother was buried. "Bye mom." She whispered softly. "We'll be back soon."

A/N: Quick side note, I do not promote teenage smoking...just part of the story.


End file.
